July 2025 Car Sales Up 28.5%, But EV Sales Down By 14.7%

Malaysia’s car market picked up pace in July 2025, with 75,663 new vehicles registered, a 28.5% rebound from June’s 58,858 units, according to data.gov.my. Year-to-date, 472,492 vehicles have been registered in 2025.

Petrol-powered models once again dominated the landscape, taking an 87.1% share with 65,897 registrations, up 33.2% from the previous month. Perodua’s Bezza remained the nation’s best-seller at 9,771 units, followed by the Axia (7,980), Myvi (6,530) and Proton Saga (6,500). 

Other notable models include Perodua Alza (5,016) and Ativa (2,836) kept Perodua firmly in front, while Toyota’s Vios (2,598), Honda’s City (1,939), Proton’s X50 (1,932), and Toyota Alphard (1,712) rounded out the top petrol models.

Diesel demand reached 4,499 units, up 11.8% from June. The Toyota Hilux led the category with 2,462 units, followed by the Isuzu D-Max (603), Mitsubishi Triton (443), Ford Ranger (383), and Toyota Fortuner (159).

Electrified vehicles (EV) posted mixed fortunes. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations totaled 2,792 units, down 14.7% from June’s 3,272. The Proton e.MAS 7 again led the charge with 686 units, followed by BYD’s Atto 3 (355) and Sealion (278).

Tesla’s Model Y slipped further to 151 units as updated model deliveries wound down, while the BYD M6 (117), Tesla Model 3 (105), Denza D9 (103), Xpeng X9 (72), and Leapmotor C10 (66) filled the top ranks. The newly launched BYD Atto 2 entered the charts with 63 units, likely a mix of customer handovers and test drive fleet registrations as full-scale deliveries have yet to begin.

Hybrids accounted for 2,476 units, a 19.6% rise from June. The Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid led with 645 units, ahead of the GWM Haval H6 HEV (394). 

Honda’s CR-V e:HEV (175) and HR-V e:HEV (171) maintained steady demand, while BMW’s X3 (135), Mercedes-Benz GLC (99), Nissan Kicks (91), Chery Jaecoo J7 PHEV (90), Honda City e:HEV (84), and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (78) completed the month’s top sellers.

Absent from the official tally is the newly launched Chery Tiggo Cross, which is slated to begin its promised 500-unit delivery run this month.

July’s rebound suggests that June’s slump was more a pause than a trend, though the split between conventional and electrified powertrains continues to evolve. Petrol remains king, diesel is holding steady, and EV and hybrid adoption while still a fraction of the total is proving resilient even in a shifting policy and incentive landscape.